The motion passed in 2002 in the parliament of the Swiss canton of Valais by the MP Yves Bagnoud requires that the government has the overall debt of the State externally audited. The aim of this study is to provide information to answer the motion. To do so, the study is organised as follows....

Creative accounting allows governments and, more particularly, finance ministers to somehow manage financial reports to achieve specific and possibly self-interested goals. It is usually used to hide deficits. It sometimes also helps to present financial performance as being more worrisome than...